2003 GIG REVIEWS
Check the 2003 Festival and all the Gig reviews with a stack of pictures too

SPONSORS
Without our sonsors
there would be no
Fest - Who are these
generous people?

Lady Isabella - the Great Laxey Wheel keeps on turning...

Set high on the hillside towards the hamlet of Agneash and overlooking Laxey
Village is the Great Laxey Wheel and is as much associated with the Isle of Man
as are the cats without tails. Built in 1854 the Laxey water wheel, known as
the Lady Isabella after the wife of the Lieutenant Governor of the island at
the time, was designed by the Manx engineer Robert Casement and engineered to
pump up to 250 gallons of water per minute at a depth of almost 1,500 feet from
the workings of the the lead and zinc mines operated by the Great Laxey Mining
Company. In 1965 the Manx government bought the water wheel and the restoration
work which followed, preserved it for future generations. Since 1989 it has
been under the control of Manx National Heritage and is open to the public.

when the
weather graced us with a beautiful weekend of sunshine and pleasant
temperatures it was set up for us down by the riverside at The Shore Hotel.

People turned out in large numbers right from the off and despite the new venue
at The Laxey FC just down the road The Shore Blues Marquee was as busy as ever
and a tremendous weekend was had by everyone.

Mr Riff The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge

Mr Riff
Now comes with his own fan club in tow –
The Riff Raff Crew
The Doctor opened The Festival at The Shore in his usual enthusiastic way
Played to a busy tent but by the end of the set more had come to see what was
going on

Lonesome appear at The Shore Hotel 2005 in some very natty shirts - Click to
Enlarge

Lonesome
Interesting set including hula and Hendrix
Very entertaining
Seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves which rubbed off on the crowd

The Sweeney
Mick Hegarty pops up with another new band!
Blues and soul numbers
Mick brought his usual presence to the stage
Fantastic brass section (trombone, trumpet and sax)
Crowd loved the performance and it got people up and having fun

Barry Nelson
First gig at the Blues Festival ever so a bit nervous!
Nerves disappeared once on stage

Richard Moore at The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge

Mixture of up beat and moody numbers
Played a blinding set that brought the tent down and an excellent end to Friday

Saturday Afternoon

Richard Moore
Hard time to play – first in the day
Started with an empty tent but brought quite a few in by the end
Traditional blues numbers
Excellent start to the afternoon

Manx Jazz Cats
Played a massively extended set and took it in their stride
Nice easy listening numbers for a sunny afternoon
Crowd were relaxed and responded well
Tent started to fill by the end of the set

Ben Dunderdale
Described his style as folk, rock, blues
Played some excellent original numbers
Real talent for the future and may well be back to the festival soon
Massive support from his family – especially his mum!
Good reaction from the growing numbers

String Theory
Lucky to get them to the Shore at short notice
Amazing guitarists
Intricate stuff which could have been lost in such a big tent with lots of noise
Audience appreciated the skills
Played a cracking set and wanted to keep going for longer

Saturday Evening

Tholtan Builders
Came with their usual merry band of supporters
Did not disappoint and made the crowd go wild
Especially impressive bongo performance from Graham "Straps" Joughin
Seemed to enjoy themselves
A good fun set – banjos and all!

Moonshine at The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge

Moonshine
Richard Moore back again but this time with his excellent band.
More Hendrix included in more of a rock set
Great music from good musicians
Set things up nicely for a good night

Mr Riff at The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge

Mr Riff
Played a blinder
Fed off the base of the night before
The
Riff Raff Crew
were back
He said that the night was "mad"
Went on a walkabout through the crowd, played on the tables and was mobbed by
his fanclub
By the end the crowd was buzzing

Truman Falls
Much anticipated by all
Unfortunately lost half of the slot due to the mindless vandalism of some thick
headed oafs cutting power
to the stage
What they played was excellent and you can see what all the fuss is about
Took the problems in their stride and the audience appreciated it

Jelly Pond
What a finish!
Usual fantastic performance
Full of energy with their mix of reggae, ska and rock
Whipped crowd to a frenzy
Band enjoyed the atmosphere and wanted to play all night

Review notes by Paul Sayle

Sunday 15th May 2005

Sunday was a new day for us at the Shore, an addition to what has been so far
just a Friday and Saturday event. Although the weather was not as brilliant as
it had been for the weekend so far, it was dry and mild and the outlook was for
some bright spells... how right that proved to be

The PA was in place and we were ready to go for 1.00pm but the sound engineers
were still on winter time...or something and we were just beginning to wonder where they were
when a phone call came through; "we're on our way..."

First up was
Davy Knowles
- he of
Back Door Slam
notoriety
This was the first time that I had actually seen Davy and I still can't get
over the rich tone of his voice never mind his skills on the guitar. It seems
that the blues are in safe hands if Davy is anything to judge by.

Heather Watson
had the job on following Davy. Well known on the local music scene Heather
plays a set of her own original compositions and must be commended for this not
only for having the courage of her convictions in doing so but also to open up
her inner angst to the public gaze.

Lonesome
were scheduled next and set the musical tone with their sartorial statement:
Hawaiian. In shirts louder than some of the bands over the weekend we were
treated to some lovely slide guitar work from Bill, Pete and David and the
tones of those beautiful Pacific Islands and their National style guitars er...
resonated, around the Shore
Blues Marquee. Lovely stuff, perfect for a Sunday afternoon.

Steve Parry
had originally been due to play a solo spot on Saturday afternoon but had had to cancel. So, we were delighted when he turned up on Sunday afternoon, guitar in hand (as always) and ready to play. After his set with Jelly Pond the night before when the whole place was rockin' he might have been forgiven for taking it easy. But Steve always gives it 110% and this afternoon was no exception.

Al Lawrence
returned to The Shore from his Saturday performance and once again was perfect
for the Survivors chilling out down at The Shore - nothing too energetic, just
the job. But despite the relaxed mood Al managed to contrive to kick his
lovely Martin guitar off it's stand and in so doing dislodged some inner
workings which forced him to cut a little short his planned set.

And so to
Danny Christian
who personified the weekend. He was rung out, tired out, and sung out! His
voice was completely shot but he managed to get up and sing us a few songs to
round out what had been a marvellous, record breaking, tiring and very
enjoyable weekend.

Thanks to everyone at The Shore: The landlord -
Malcolm Yates
, the PA sound engineers -
Phil Maddrell
and
Dave Evans
,
Paul Sayle
who stepped into the breach so effectively for Friday and Saturday,
Henry Qualtrough
for the lighting and especially all the
musicians
who, as usual, gave their time and skill for nothing so that we could once
again raise money to help the Red Cross.

Sunday Review by Dave Ashton

If you have any pictures you would share with us please e-mail them by
clicking
here
a.s.a.p.